Aggies Extend Win Streak to Seven Games

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No.11 Texas A&M Aggies continued their offensive dominance, defeating the Lamar Cardinals, 10-7, Tuesday evening on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park to run their win streak to seven games.

The Aggies’ offense was key in the win. All 10 batters that went up to the plate recorded at least one hit. Texas A&M batted .394 (13-for-33) on the day, and at least one Aggie reached base every inning. The offense recorded their fourth straight double-digit hit game.

The Aggies used six pitchers in the win. Brandon Birdsell (1-0) earned first collegiate win, throwing 1.2 scoreless innings of relief, scattering one hit and one walk while fanning two. Kyle Richardsonand Jake Nelson each threw a perfect frame out of the bullpen.

Texas A&M improved overall record to 22-5, while the Lamar Cardinals fall to 9-15 on the season.

UP NEXT
The Aggies return to SEC play, hosting the Missouri Tigers for a three-game series beginning Friday with first pitch at 6:32 p.m.

SCORING SUMMARY
B1| Bryce Blaum started the game drawing a five-pitch base on balls and advanced to third on a Cam Blake single through the right side of the infield. Braden Shewmake broke the ice, plating Blaum on a sacrifice fly to centerfield. A&M 1, LU 0.

T2 | Jorge Gutierrez and Logan LeJeune drew back-to-back one-out walks, before Avery George tied things up, plating Gutierrez on a single through the left-side of the infield. A&M 1, LU 1.

B3 | Zach DeLoach led off the third, smacking an 0-1 offering over the rightfield fence, to help the Aggies regain the lead. A&M 2, LU 1.

B4| Jonathan Ducoff led off the fourth, beating the defensive shift with a single through the left side of the infield. Ty Coleman singled up the middle to put runners on the corners, before Mikey Hoehner grounded into a double play, scoring Ducoff. Aaron Walter drew a two-out walk, and scored on a double to the right-center wall by Hunter Coleman. A&M 4, LU 1.

B5 | Blaum led off with a single down the leftfield line and advanced to second on a throwing error by Lamar’s pitcher, when trying to pick-off Blaum. Blaum shortly after advanced to third on a wild pitch, before coming in to score for the second time today, on a sacrifice fly to centerfield by Shewmake. A&M 5, LU 1.

T6 | Logan Berlof blooped a one-out single to leftfield and came in to score on a dinger to leftfield by Gutierrez. A&M 5, LU 3.

B6 | Ty Coleman started off the sixth with a single to leftfield, and advanced to second on a single up the middle by Hoehner. Walters knocked down a perfectly placed bunt between the pitcher and the third baseman to fill the bags with Ags. Hunter Coleman cleared the bases with a triple to the right-center gap, before coming in to score on a groundout to first base by DeLoach. A&M 9, LU 3.

B8 | With two out, Hunter Watson pinched hit and doubled down the third base line. Watson came in to score on a single up the middle by Shewmake. A&M 10, LU 3.

T9 | The Cardinals made a late charge, scoring four in their last raps. LeJeune reached first on a fielding error by TAMU’s third baseman and advanced to second on a wild pitch, before moving over to third on a pinch-hit single through the right side by Rhett McCall. Avery George drew a base on balls to load the bases, and LeJeune scored on a wild pitch. With runners on second and third, Chase Kemp singled up the middle to score McCall. Robin Adames kept the rally going, hitting a two-out single through the left side, plating George. With two runners in scoring positions, Berlof singled through the left side and scored Kemp to cap off the scoring for the Cardinals.

TEXAS A&M QUOTESHead Coach Rob ChildressOn what impressed him in tonight’s win over the Cardinals…
“Well just the opportunities for us to relinquish the momentum, and to grab it right back at times tonight. In the first inning, we loaded the bases with no outs and [Dustin] Saenz has enough courage to strike a guy out, and get a ground ball to get off the field. With bases loaded and nobody out, they don’t score. When we come in and score right away, instead of them having a big top of the first, it’s a 1-0 game after one. In the third inning, we make a great relay throw to get off the field and keep it at one. We come right back in and [Zach] DeLoach hits a home run making it a 2-1 game. In the sixth, we give up a two-run homer, but then we come back answering with four. It’s important that we did that and it ended up being the difference in the game. Certainly, with the way things finished, it was important.

On Zach DeLoach’s confidence with his recent success…
“It’s all confidence. I mean you can see how we’ve played here in the last week. We’ve been playing with an awful lot of confidence. Each guy is responsible for his own confidence. They’re all big guys, 18 to 22 years old. Zach got an opportunity tonight and made the most of it. He’s a really good player. He had a great freshman year for us, and he’s a guy that we’re going to count on. Especially against the right-handers with the great sliders.”

On what he is anticipating with Missouri coming in this weekend…
“Well they’re going to be by far and away, the best collection of pitchers we’ve faced thus far. In SEC play they’ve been playing with a lot of confidence. They won two-out-of-three against Ole Miss this past weekend. Up and down the lineup they’ve got really good players. Their two hole hitter, the center fielder, is a guy that looks to go in the first or second round, and he’s going to be tough to deal with.

Sophomore OF Zach DeLoachOn battling back from a slow start earlier this season…
“The coaches gave me an opportunity. I’ve been working hard trying to get my swing back to the way it needs to be and figuring some things out on my own as well with help from the coaches. I felt good tonight, and I was just sticking to the approach of staying up the middle and driving the ball.”

On making the most of his opportunity when he finds himself in the lineup…
“It’s all about opportunity, right? You see guys come in and out of the lineup and it’s all because we just want to win. As a team guy, I’m all for it. Whatever we got to do to win I’ll just be a team player about it.”

Junior INF Braden ShewmakeOn being able to have the production he’s had in the RBI column…
“Our offense has really picked up over the last couple of weeks. One-through-nine people are on base all of the time, and we have so many RBI opportunities. It’s just a matter of knocking them down. We’ve been put in great spots to be able to knock those down. With the runner on third and less than two outs, like Hunter [Coleman] said, we don’t let them get the first strike on us. If we do that, we tend to knock in a lot of runs.”

Junior INF Hunter ColemanOn if it was one of the performances he was looking for this season…
“Yeah, definitely. I think this is going to help build confidence. I don’t think anyone on the team has lost confidence in me, but that defiantly felt good to get things rolling in the right direction. Especially after Kentucky, we all played pretty good there, and our offense continued to be relentless, especially in tonight’s game. ”

On using the right-center gap, what he saw off the mound and in his swing…
“I think some of the mistakes I have made so far, have been early off the ball. I finally made that adjustment, and stuck to our approach, to dominate the fastball away. I got one of those tonight and I also got a splitter. I just kind of stayed through it and made things happen.”